Shotgun barrels having ventilation ribs (“vent ribs”) have been successfully utilized to provide advantages in sighting and hitting a target with a shotgun. Such vent ribs have been advantageous in that they provide a flat clean sight plane for the shooter to look down and quickly superimpose the barrel onto the target. Also, vent ribs act to better dissipate heat which causes visual distortion after several shots have been fired from the shotgun. Vent ribs are normally the same size for all models and gauges of shotgun made by a single manufacturer. Although there are some shotguns with “odd” sized vent ribs, the majority of vent ribs used on shotguns today fall into a relatively small set of sizes.
While shotguns with vent ribs have been highly advantageous in sports such as trap and skeet shooting, and general wing shooting, such sights do not readily lend themselves to rifle-like accuracy which would be useful in hunting big game and the like. However, in recent years many local governments have become concerned about the use of high-powered rifles in their areas. As a result of these concerns many states and governmental areas have prohibited the use of rifles and have designated “shotgun only” areas for deer hunting. Thus, shotguns are increasingly being used in hunting of big game in areas where traditionally rifles had been used. This situation caused many hunters owning shotguns with vent ribs to buy either a completely new barrel with an attached mount or a completely new shotgun with more rifle-like qualities.
The hunter who already possesses a shotgun for hunting small game which is otherwise adequate does not have, at present, a means for reliably providing that same shotgun with a telescopic sight that can be conveniently installed to be rigidly affixed to the shotgun while in use and then later removed. Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a superior gun sight mounting system for mounting of telescopic sights and the like to vent rib barrels without loosing accuracy due to repeated firing, thereby reducing the need for a separate shotgun.
Several sighting systems have been proposed in the past for use as attachments for guns. Such sights range from sights which are attached to the receiver of the gun to sights which are attached to vent rib barrels of shotguns. For example, Remington offers a vertically clamping system for attaching a sight to a shotgun that includes a thin plate which fits beneath the vent rib of the gun and four screws that vertically attach the plate to a one-piece clamp. However, this system is not able to reliably clamp the sight strongly due to the thinness of thee plate, which has only a limited number of screw threads for fitting the screws. U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,607 to Klotz for “Sub-base for Top-Mounted Gunsight” describes a sub-base for attaching a telescopic gunsight to the receiver of the gun. The sub-base is permanently and rigidly fastened to the receiver by a set of screws that are screwed into the gun. U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,536 to Adams for “Detachable Gun Sight Mounts” describes a gun sight mount for front and rear sights which may be attached to a shotgun with a ventilated rib sight mount. A pair of readily attachable and detachable gun sight mountings is mounted on the gun, onto which light weight front and rear conventional rifle sights may be mounted.
While the prior art devices may be sufficient for the particular problems that they solve, such sights either involve the permanent altering of the gun, do not produce premium accuracy, are not amenable to mounting of a telescopic sight, and/or do not provide reliable, rigid mounting to withstand jolts from repeated firing. Thus, even with these add-on type sights, the shotgun has not obtained its maximum accuracy.
Further, shotguns which are appropriate for use by younger hunters are generally too heavy for the user when an additional element such as a mount for a telescopic sight is added. Youth guns are generally identical to their larger counterparts with the exception that their stocks have been shortened by approximately one inch. As a result, shotguns for use by youths are shorter but have retained most of the weight of the adult guns. It would be advantageous to provide a high quality telescopic mount that would also be light in weight for a young hunter to use.
It would therefore be advantageous to rigidly yet reversibly attach a telescopic sight to the vent rib of a shotgun. It would also be advantageous to have a mounting system for a shotgun which permits a sight, such as a telescopic sight, to be mounted to the gun in such a way that it can withstand the repeated shocks of recoil without shifting out of alignment. It would also be advantageous to have a detachable telescopic sight mount which may used to attach the sight without modification to the shotgun. Further, it would be advantageous to have a gun sight mounting system which is inexpensive and readily mountable on shotgun vent ribs commonly found in the market. It would also be advantageous for a scope mount for a shotgun to be light in weight and compatible with a high strength, lightweight shotgun, such as an “over-and-under” double barrel shotgun.